FTII to teachn 'film archiving'

Indian cinema today enjoys a distinct identity in global film circles. However, the apathy of film makers towards maintaining an archive makes it lose valuable images and part of the country's national heritage.India produces the most most number of feature films in the world annually. Only 15 to 18 per cent of these films are properly archived and protected.

The data have made the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII) sit up and take notice.

It will soon teach its students the importance of film archiving and protection. It has joined hands with the Thomson Foundation for Films and Television Heritage to advance this purpose. Budding film makers at FTII will now have an opportunity to understand the basics of film archiving and its importance for protection of the film-heritage of the country though "Pune Film Treasures Festival" to be organised annually at FTII.

The first such festival was held at National Film Archives of India (NFAI) premises in Pune during March 17-20. US-based George Eastman House, FTII and France-based Cinematheque Francaise jointly organised this event, which was attended by world renowned film archivists and film makers like Sudhir Mishra, Olivier Assayas, Nishikant Kamat and Jean-Francois Rauger.

Thomson Foundation, managing director Severine Wemaere told Business Standard that none of the film schools in India teach the subject of "film archiving". "While India is becoming a global super power in world cinema the awareness towards protection of films is just not there.

Quite a few film schools in the US and Europe have master's degree programmes dedicated to "film archiving" or "film protection". Indian film makers and film schools should seriously think over this aspect and take concrete steps," Wemaere stated.

The film festival, whose theme is "Cinema of modernity and modernity of cinema", will henceforth be held annually and would be part of the first-year curriculum at FTII. "A beautiful and landmark film like Mirch Masala is unavailable today, just because it was not properly archived.

Films made in India are our national heritage, which has to be protected at every cost. We hence want to teach future film-makers the need of film protection," said FTII faculty member Suresh Chhabria.

NFAI Director K Sashidharan told Business Standard that NFAI receives only 15 to 18 per cent of films made in India every year for archiving. "Film makers are just ignorant towards the archiving. In 2006, in all 1092 full length films were made in India. Of this, only 200 films have been sent to NFAI for protection. This suggests need for awareness among filmmakers," Sashidharan stated.

The Thomson Foundation also participated at the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa to receive excellent response from film makers. "We plan to screen all-time-classics during our festivals so that future film makers realise the need to protect films, which are part of national heritage of every country," said FTII Director Pankaj Rag.